Paper short abstract:

This study endeavours to answer the question: Why do slums persist? The paper argues that disappearance of slum attributes through effective formal institutional intervention through provision of legal land tenure and improvement in the local level of governance.

Paper long abstract:

This study endeavours to answer the question: Why do slums persist? The paper identifies the persistence of slums with the persistence of slum attributes that are included in definition of a slum. Small city slums have been largely overlooked in the existing literature on urbanization. The paper utilises primary data collected from 184 households present in the slums of Gaya, a city of Bihar in India, where persistence of slums is a bigger issue than new slum formation. Econometric results testing a causal model suggest that whereas patronage and corruption within the structure of governance assist in the withering away of slums, the discretionary allocation of public resources appears to sustain the persistence of slums. Our results reveal that perceived legal ownership of illegally occupied residential space and prolonged stay at the same location assist in dissolution of slums. On the contrary, slum dwellers' prolonged stay at a specific location helps adaptation to the life of slums. The paper argues that disappearance of slum attributes through effective formal institutional intervention through provision of legal land tenure and improvement in the local level of governance can act as potential catalyst towards the endeavour to de-slum a city.

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